Bethany Platt

Bethany Britney Platt is the daughter of Sarah Platt and half-sister of Harry. Sarah gave birth to Bethany in 2000 at age thirteen, following a brief sexual encounter with classmate Neil Fearns. Neil played no further part in Bethany's life and died in a car crash three years after she was born.

Sarah found it difficult to juggle being a mother at such a young age with school, work and her social life. Bethany's infancy had plenty of drama; in 2004 she was kidnapped by her unstable paternal grandmother Brenda Fearns, and when she was seven she almost died after taking an ecstasy tablet her uncle David Platt had hidden inside her doll. That same year, Sarah and Bethany left Weatherfield for a new life in Milan, returning in 2015 after Bethany was expelled from her school in Italy.

Now a teenager, Bethany was very close to Sarah and at times they behaved more like sisters than mother and daughter. However, she had grown rebellious and difficult to control. In 2016, Bethany was the victim of school bullying which led to self-esteem issues. She then met 35-year-old Nathan Curtis, who was part of a gang in involved in grooming young girls in order to be pimped. Bethany was coerced into having sex with random men and was on the verge of being sold into prostitution abroad when she found the courage to report Nathan and his cohorts to the police. The experience has haunted her ever since.

Bethany then started a relationship with Craig Tinker but they quickly realised they were better off as friends. She currently works as a trainee stylist at Audrey's as well as waitressing at the Viaduct Bistro, and lives with co-workers Maria Connor and Emma Brooker in the salon flat.

2000-2007: Dramatic childhood
Britney Platt was born on 4th June 2000 at Weatherfield General to thirteen year old mother Sarah. Her dad Neil was the same age and the immature schoolboy wanted nothing to do with her, becoming an "absent father". Moments after her birth, Alison Webster, who lost her own baby Jake, kidnapped Bethany and threatened to kill herself. However Alison handed Bethany back over to her mother and ran in front of a truck.

In September, Sarah returned to school to continue her education and as a result grandmother Gail played a significant part in helping to look after Bethany during her early years. As Bethany grew in to a toddler, Sarah continued to grow through her teen years and struggled at times as a teenage parent. In 2002, Sarah began dating Aidan Critchley who was a bad influence on her and she started pushing the boundaries and becoming rebellious, missing Bethany's second birthday party. After Sarah almost died in a car crash because Aidan was joyriding, she knew how much Bethany meant to her and decided to become a better mother.

In 2003, Gail's husband Richard Hillman tied up and gagged Bethany along with David, Sarah and Gail and tried to kill them by driving into the canal. They were rescued but Richard perished. Bethany was too young to remember this traumatic event but Sarah still worried about the potential impact on her.

Bethany's father Neil Fearns died in a road accident and Sarah took her to Neil's funeral. Neil's mother Brenda kidnapped Bethany and threatened to jump from the tower of St. Saviour's Church, so that they could be reunited with Neil. Emily Bishop managed to stop her and talk her out of it. Brenda was last seen sobbing in the back of an ambulance.

In 2003 Bethany had a new father figure in the form of Todd Grimshaw who began dating her mother and they moved into 17a Victoria Street. Todd got Sarah pregnant, and even showed interest in adopting Bethany to become a proper father to her. However none of this went ahead as Todd was a closet homosexual, and later had an affair with nurse Karl Foster (after an unsuccessful attempt to kiss Bethany's uncle Nick Tilsley) and thus broke up with her mother. Sarah gave birth to a son, Billy however he passed away a few days after his birth, and Todd later left Weatherfield for London. Sarah eventually dated Todd's older half-brother Jason.

While David was meant to be looking after Bethany in September 2007, he hid ecstasy tablets in her doll for his friend Darryl Morton. Bethany found and ate one of them and David made her drink loads of salt water to bring the tablet back up, inadvertently making the situation worse. Bethany fell unconscious and was rushed into Weatherfield General in critical condition. Sarah was furious with David when he confessed what had happened and Gail kicked him out of the house. After a few days Bethany recovered. She was a bridesmaid at her mother's wedding to Jason the following month (although the day was ruined when David faked a suicide attempt).

2007-2015: New life in Italy
In December 2007, Sarah planned to move to Italy with Jason and Bethany with her uncle, Stephen Reid. David was originally meant to go, but to get back at him for all the things he had done to her, Sarah planted ecstasy tablets in his drawer at Audrey's salon. Gail and Stephen were appalled and David was told in no uncertain terms that he couldn't go back to Milan with Stephen. Ready to embark on their new lives, Sarah proudly told Jason what she had done but this backfired as he was sickened and returned to Coronation Street to tell Gail and David what Sarah had done. Sarah left for Italy with Bethany. In July 2008, Gail went to visit them and in June 2009, Gail was accompanied on a visit by her mother Audrey Roberts.

2015-2016: Return from Italy
In March 2015, Bethany was expelled from her school in Milan, so stole money from her mother and paid for a trip back to the United Kingdom. She returned to Coronation Street after seven years, and immediately started causing trouble by dodging the taxi fare, persuading Gavin Rodwell to buy her a drink and arguing with Steph Britton. Gail caught Bethany drinking under age and took her to No.8. Bethany told Gail that Sarah was ignoring her and was more interested in work, but Gail got the true story from Sarah over the phone, and told Bethany that she would be returning to Milan. Bethany tried to get sympathy from Audrey by saying that she was being bullied at school, However, Gail insisted that she go back to Milan with her mother.

Sarah arrived in Weatherfield, and demanded that Bethany return to Milan with her. Sarah told her boss (and uncle) Stephen that her internet was down, so she couldn't complete her work which was urgently needed. Bethany took advantage of this, and used the internet to email Stephen, who found out that Sarah was lying. Stephen subsequently called Sarah and fired her. Bethany's plan worked, and Sarah agreed they could stay in Weatherfield. In April Bethany started attending Weatherfield High.

Sarah became involved with Callum Logan, despite warnings from her family that he was dangerous. The two began dating and Bethany also became attracted to Callum, telling him of David and wife Kylie's secret plans to win back full custody of Callum and Kylie's son Max. Bethany spent more time with Callum, believing he liked her back, when in reality he was manipulating her. Callum took photos and videos of her delivering his drugs and pretending to smoke cannabis which he used to blackmail Sarah when she broke up with him over his dangerous lifestyle. After learning that Max witnessed Callum beating up Jason in the ginnel, he drugged Sarah and forced Bethany to give him an alibi. Bethany told police that she was with Callum in his flat when Jason was attacked. She later retracted her statement when Callum used his thugs to threaten Audrey and wreck No.8.

A few weeks later, Callum died after Kylie bludgeoned him trying to protect Sarah from his attacks. Kylie and Sarah hid the body from Bethany when she came round looking for Sarah. Callum was buried under an annex in the house by David and Kylie which was kept a secret from Bethany. Sarah later discovered she was pregnant with Callum's baby and Bethany angrily confronted her when she overheard Kylie and David talk about it. Despite her early apprehension, Bethany quickly bonded with her new half-brother Harry when he was born.

2016-2017: Bullying and grooming
In early 2016, Bethany started to experience bullying from a girl named Lauren and her friends during school break times. Bethany began skiving from school but when Sarah found out, she walked her there every day, to make sure she definitely attended. Sarah later found out the reason for Bethany's truancy, and warned Lauren and her mum to keep away. This did not help and Lauren continued to harass Bethany through a combination of texting, stealing her phone and calling Harry an ugly baby.

Callum's body was found under the Platts' house in May and although Sarah, Kylie and David got away with their crime, Sarah was admitted to Weatherfield General with postnatal psychosis, partly caused by the stress of the events with Callum. In July, Lauren faked an apology to Bethany and lied that she herself was getting bullied by Shelley and the rest of the gang. Bethany learned that this was a trick when Lauren and her gang surrounded her taunting her over her "psycho" mother.

Gary Windass learned of Bethany's troubles and reported Lauren to the school in September. After a heated argument between Sarah and Lauren's mum in the Headteacher's office, both girls were suspended. A few days later, Lauren visited Bethany in Audrey's Salon and once again started to torment her. When David saw what was happening, he cut off a chunk of Lauren's hair and threatened to cut her throat if she went near Bethany again. Later that month, Lauren was ultimately expelled from school after other victims came forward about her bullying.

After her experience at the hands of bullying Bethany continued to be self-conscious about her self worth. In late 2016 she met the older, charming Nathan Curtis - manager at Supreme Tanning - who for the first time made Bethany feel like she had a voice. Nathan would spend hours listening to Bethany's problems and offering her advice. Eventually their relationship turned sexual. Bethany's mother Sarah opposed the coupling from the start due to Nathan's age, and by doing she ultimately pushed Bethany away.

After Bethany moved in with him, Nathan began introducing her to soft drugs such as Valium and also introduced her to his male friends at house parties. Nathan went on to propose to Bethany, which she accepted.

During this period, Nathan convinced Bethany that he was turned on by the idea of his friends having sex with her and on more than one occasion convinced her to sleep with some of his "friends". Unbeknown to Bethany, he was taking money from these men for them sleeping with her. Bethany clearly did not feel comfortable doing so but Nathan continued to encourage her by emotionally blackmailing her. In reality, Bethany was one of several young girls being pimped out by Nathan and his cohorts. Nathan's ultimate goal was to traffic her to one of his brothels to be used as a contentious prostitute.

After discovering Nathan's plan for Bethany through Shona Ramsey, one of his former prostitutes, Sarah called the police to try and get Bethany away from him but this backfired as Bethany refused to speak out against Nathan. Nathan planned to sell Bethany in to prostitution abroad and convinced her to steal her passport which had been hidden by Sarah. When Bethany revealed that she had failed to do so on the way to the port, Nathan was furious and showed his true colours and the reality of their relationship finally began to hit Bethany. Bethany walked away from Nathan at a service station and with the aid of a stranger contacted the police.

In October, Bethany stood up in court and testified against him. Nathan, Neil Clifton and Ian Yardley - along with other men - were all found guilty of rape.

2017 to present: Return to normality
Bethany's ordeal continued to affect her beyond the trial and she was cautious about starting another relationship. In December she began dating Craig Tinker who had supported her through Nathan's trial and given evidence against him as a trainee police officer. In January 2018, Craig discovered that Bethany was working at Tassels, a lap dancing bar and immediately wanted her to give it up but Bethany claimed she enjoyed the job and felt empowered. As a result, Craig ended the relationship.

Sarah was horrified when she discovered Bethany was working at Tassels and visited the club with Gail and Audrey to check it out, leading to Bethany being fired due to them causing hassle. Feeling guilty and wanting Bethany to be happy, Sarah intervened and got Bethany her job back. However, Bethany's trauma came back to haunt her when she hallucinated Nathan while giving a private dance to a groom to be on a stag night and glassed him with a broken bottle in terror. Bethany was arrested, interviewed and released pending a court hearing for GBH but the man refused to press charges.

In April, the abuse again tormented Bethany when she discovered Neil was planning to appeal his sentence and she may have to return to court and testify again.

Over the following few months, Craig began a new relationship with Kayla Westbrook, who worked as a waitress at Speed Daal. Bethany was pleased for Craig but wasn’t particularly fond of Kayla. Unbeknownst to both Bethany and Craig, Kayla was Neil’s daughter and believed her father was innocent and had been imprisoned because Bethany had lied. Kayla was using Craig to get to Bethany and planned to extract what she believed to be the truth from her to assist Neil with an appeal. Kayla was also vengeful towards Craig because he had testified against Neil and manipulated him to make his OCD worse.

In July, after Kayla caused a minor car crash and lied about it, suspicious Bethany went to Kayla‘s house to confront her again and was shocked when she found a picture of Kayla and Neil. Kayla hit Bethany over the head with a vase and tied her up in the garage, revealing everything and attempting to force Bethany to confess to lying about Neil. Kayla refused to listen as Bethany tried to convince her that she was the victim. When Craig arrived and played Kayla the recording of Neil’s confession from his phone, she finally accepted the truth about her father and let Bethany go. Bethany felt sorry for Kayla didn’t want to get the police involved and instead took Kayla to the hospital where Neil was after being beaten up in prison. Bethany convinced her to tell her dad how she felt about him now she knew that he was a child rapist.

Meanwhile, Ryan Connor began flirting with Bethany and invited her back to his flat for dinner. Bethany was attracted to Ryan and they kissed but when Ryan tried to take things further, Bethany panicked and ran out of the flat. Ryan later heard about Bethany’s abuse from Sarah and understood her reaction and they went on another date. Ryan planned to return to Ibiza and invited Bethany to go with him. Bethany was packed and all set to go with Ryan but missed the flight when she was taken hostage by Kayla.

Ryan returned from Ibiza a few months later and in November he and Bethany renewed their relationship. During the same month, Bethany took on an extra job as a waitress at the Viaduct Bistro.

In January 2019, Bethany and her family were evicted from their Victoria Court flat due to unpaid rent and to avoid sleeping in the overcrowded No.8, Bethany began sharing a flat with Emma Brooker and Maria Connor above the salon.

Personality
As a young child, Bethany was a quiet girl but grew into a feisty teenager, who could on occasion go to extreme lengths to try and get what she wanted, such as shoplifting in an attempt to prevent her return to Italy. Bethany could still be naive and easily influenced and this was manipulated by older men.

Bethany remains deeply affected by the abuse she suffered at the hands of Nathan Curtis, Neil Clifton and the other men who groomed her for sex over a period of months in 2017 as shown by her wariness to start a relationship with Ryan Connor and her outrage when she realised he had been hedging his bets with someone else after they slept together.

Since then, Bethany has also been seen to look out for friends and peers when they are vulnerable, supporting Craig when he was suffering badly with OCD and and being a confidante to Amy Barlow through her pregnancy and subsequent abortion. Bethany kept Amy's abortion secret but implored her to tell her parents herself, the same tactic she took when she found out Max had been wetting the bed due to nightmares over Callum.

Sarah Platt
Sarah and Bethany have a loving relationship but it is sometimes complicated by the small age gap between them and at times bears a closer resemblance to a sibling relationship than that of a mother and daughter. Now Bethany is a teenager, Sarah has attempted to give her freedom and take a more relaxed parenting approach. This reflects on Sarah being a young mother and the very different and regularly strained relationship she had with her own mother as a teenager. As a result Bethany has got into trouble and is capable of hiding things from Sarah well, such as being involved with Callum Logan's drug dealing, the true age of boyfriend Nathan Curtis and her employment at a lap dancing club.

Being so young when she gave birth to Bethany, Sarah sometimes struggled with the reality of being a teenage parent and juggling her responsibilities to her daughter with schoolwork and socialising. Egged on by best friend Candice Stowe and boyfriends like Aidan Critchley, Sarah could overlook her daughter in favour of rebellious and sometimes dangerous behaviour such as drinking, using internet chatrooms and joyriding, which caused great tension with Gail. As Sarah matured and left school, particularly after she nearly lost her life in a car accident, she became a far more responsible mother figure for Bethany. Having found a stable boyfriend in Todd Grimshaw, she moved out of home with Bethany at 16 in August 2003.

While Sarah believed she had found a perfect family unit with Todd and considered herself to be mature beyond her years, she still made mistakes with Bethany and the relationship with Todd crumbled the following year after he came out as gay to Sarah. Bethany missed Todd's influence in her life and Sarah was upset when she expressed this. Sarah and Bethany moved to Milan at the end of 2007, following a job opportunity for Sarah. As Bethany grew into a teenager she became rebellious, much like Sarah herself, and ran away from Italy and back to Weatherfield. Bethany deliberately lost Sarah her job in order to force her to stay in Weatherfield.

Bethany has inherited both Sarah's feistiness and vulnerability and her teenage years were just as tumultuous as her mother's. While Bethany couldn't believe Sarah had been lured to the house of internet pervert Gary Adams when Sarah recounted the details to her, she was also unfortunately groomed by older boyfriend Nathan Curtis. Although Sarah and Bethany had previously had their differences, it was Bethany's relationship with Nathan which caused the most problems between them thanks to Nathan manipulating and isolating Bethany from her family. In the wake of Nathan's true colours being exposed, Bethany and Sarah were reconciled and formed a stronger bond than ever before. Sarah is perhaps more protective of her daughter than she has ever been following this experience as shown when she lashed out at Ryan Connor after seeing Bethany running upset from his flat in 2018, without knowing all the details.

While Sarah had tried to remain on the sidelines in Bethany's relationships, Bethany has on occasions taken an active interest in Sarah's love life. Although this has sometimes been in her own interests, like when she tried to set Sarah back up with Jason Grimshaw, assuming it would allow them to stay in Weatherfield, she does care about her mothers best interests. In 2019, Bethany pleaded with Sarah to give Gary Windass another chance after their separation, believing him to be good for her.

Through Sarah, Bethany has two younger half-brothers. Although she was too young to properly understand the premature birth and death of Billy in 2004, she cares deeply about little brother Harry.

Gail Rodwell
Gail Platt played a significant role in granddaughter Bethany's life when she was a baby, giving up her job at the cafe to help look after her while Sarah attended school in the day. Parenting of Bethany was a frequent cause of clashes between Sarah and Gail over the next few years. Gail was quick to scold Sarah when she felt she was not paying enough attention to Bethany and her responsibilities but was equally quick to react when she felt Sarah was making the wrong decisions for Bethany. Gail was horrified when Sarah moved out into a bedsit with Bethany and Todd after she left school in 2003 and when Bethany was electrocuted and hospitalised, Gail believed she had been proved right. Gail reported Sarah and Todd to social services and when Sarah found out it caused a huge rift between mother and daughter. As a result Gail was absent from Bethany's life over the next few months and she began to spend more time with her paternal grandmother, Brenda Fearns, which frustrated Gail.

Sarah and Gail put their differences aside after mentally ill Brenda absconded with Bethany and Gail continued to be a big part of young Bethany's life. Even after she emigrated to Italy, Gail kept in regular contact with Sarah and Beth and visited them when she could. In 2015, Gail was shocked to see Bethany in the Rovers, especially as she was drinking illegally and was disappointed when it transpired that Bethany had run away from Sarah. Bethany viewed her grandmother like she viewed her mother, a soft touch, but Gail informed Bethany that she couldn't run rings around her- after all Gail had raised David and knew every trick in the book.

David Platt
When David discovered that Sarah was pregnant and he would be an uncle at nine years old, he was horrified and hated having a screaming baby in the house once she was born, especially as he felt deprived of attention as a result. David blamed Sarah and Bethany for the break up of his parents' relationship until Sarah told him that the real reason was Martin Platt's infidelity. David was forced to accept that Bethany wasn't going anywhere and came to love her. When Sarah was nearly killed in a car crash in 2002, David told her that he loved her and Bethany and helped to look after Bethany while Sarah remained in hospital. A troubled teenager, David came to resent practically every member of his family but still showed some signs of affection towards Bethany.

In 2007, Bethany accidentally swallowed some ecstasy pills which David had hidden in one of her dolls as a favour to friend Darryl Morton. Bethany collapsed and was rushed to hospital and when David admitted what had caused her sickness, Gail and Sarah disowned him and threw him out of No.8. Despite all of his other recent misdeeds towards his family, David was upset that they believed him capable of intentionally hurting Bethany. That December, Sarah and Bethany emigrated to Milan, Sarah having taken a job opportunity with uncle Stephen that was originally offered to David as revenge against him.

The siblings remained in contact but David played a minimal role in Bethany's life until she returned to Weatherfield in 2015. By this point, David had matured into a family man with children of his own, and Bethany was now the troublesome teenager. David is still very fond of Bethany and is protective of her. David urged Bethany to stay away from his nemesis Callum Logan, knowing how dangerous Callum was, and when Bethany was being bullied by Lauren David stepped in and threatened Lauren at the salon, getting her to back off. Bethany also grew close to David's wife Kylie. Like David, Kylie looked out for Bethany in times of trouble and Bethany was very upset when Kylie died in 2016.

Audrey Roberts
Audrey is Bethany’s great-grandmother and her boss at the salon. Audrey was horrified when she was told Sarah was pregnant, not wanting her granddaughter to repeat her own mistakes and worried about her reputation on the local council, leading to a huge row. Audrey soon came round though and defended her granddaughter against gossiping Blanche Hunt in The Kabin. Once Bethany was born, Audrey fussed and doted on her and more often than not took Sarah's side in arguments between her and Gail over parenting of Bethany.

When Bethany returned to Weatherfield in 2015, Audrey insisted she come and help her out in the salon instead of larking about all day but after Sarah and Bethany relocated permanently, Bethany was enrolled in the local school instead. Audrey supported Bethany after the truth about her ordeal with Nathan Curtis was revealed and gave her a full time job at the salon.

Creation and casting
Bethany was created as the newborn daughter of Sarah Platt (played by Tina O'Brien) during a teenage pregnancy storyline in 2000. This was the first time that Coronation Street had tackled the issue and it was widely praised by the media as well as being applauded in government by public health minister Yvette Cooper for portraying the reality of teenage parenthood. Twins Amy & Emily Walton played the role when the character was born in June 2000 and would continue to appear as Bethany for over seven years, although for seven episodes in September 2000 the role was instead played by Mia Cookson.

In 2007, it was announced that Tina O'Brien had decided to leave Coronation Street, leading to the characters of Sarah and Bethany being written out. Both characters made their final appearances in December 2007.

Return to the street
Following reports in late 2014 that Tina O'Brien had decided to reprise her role, it was announced that Sarah and Bethany would be returning, with the characters having been living in Milan within the show's narrative. Following auditions in January 2015, it was announced that Katie Redford had been selected to take over the role of Bethany, with reports claiming that the actress was 19 years old. However, when users on the Digital Spy forum uncovered evidence that she was actually 25, Redford was dropped from the programme for deceiving producers about her age. Instead of running new auditions, producers selected their second choice, 19-year-old Lucy Fallon, to play the role.

Fallon made her first appearance as Bethany in March 2015. On her casting, Fallon told Digital Spy: "Walking onto the set was surreal and nerve wracking, but everyone has been really welcoming and I am thrilled to have been given this great opportunity."

In late 2016 it was announced that Coronation Street would be tackling the subject of grooming with the character of Bethany. Lucy Fallon appeared in an informational video by charity Childline discussing the signs of grooming in relation to Bethany's storyline.